On December 8, 1941, the day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan. The Senate quickly drafted and unanimously passed this joint resolution. The House voted on the resolution the same afternoon, and passed it 388-1. (The only “no” came from Representative Jeannette Rankin, a well-known pacifist who represented Wyoming.) Senate Joint Resolution 116, Declaring War Against Japan, SEN 77A-B2,12/08/1941, Records of the U.S. Senate (ARC 4477429)
View Separately

On December 8, 1941, the day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan. The Senate quickly drafted and unanimously passed this joint resolution. The House voted on the resolution the same afternoon, and passed it 388-1. (The only “no” came from Representative Jeannette Rankin, a well-known pacifist who represented Wyoming.)

Senate Joint Resolution 116, Declaring War Against Japan, SEN 77A-B2,12/08/1941, Records of the U.S. Senate (ARC 4477429)

ourpresidents: On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. Later that day, the Washington Post proclaimed that the Social Security Act was the “New Deal’s Most Important Act…Its importance cannot be exaggerated …because this legislation eventually will affect the lives of every man, woman, and child in the country.” This poster was distributed from November 1936- July 1937 during the initial issuance of Social Security numbers through U.S. post offices and with the help of labor unions. More - Posters from the Social Security Archives
Pop-upView Separately

ourpresidents:

On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act.

Later that day, the Washington Post proclaimed that the Social Security Act was the “New Deal’s Most Important Act…Its importance cannot be exaggerated …because this legislation eventually will affect the lives of every man, woman, and child in the country.”

This poster was distributed from November 1936- July 1937 during the initial issuance of Social Security numbers through U.S. post offices and with the help of labor unions.

More - Posters from the Social Security Archives

Happy Thanksgiving, Fellow Tumblrs!

Did you know that there was once so much confusion over what day Thanksgiving would be officially celebrated on that Congress had to pass a joint resolution declaring that last Thursday in November would be the legal holiday?

Here’s the story: In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation stating that Thanksgiving would be regularly commemorated on the last Thursday of November. Prior to Lincoln’s Proclamation, Thanksgiving celebrations varied from year to year with the dates and months constantly changing. Then in 1939, when Thanksgiving fell on the last day in November, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was concerned that a shortened Christmas shopping season would dampen the economic recovery. He issued a Presidential Proclamation changing the celebration to the second to last Thursday in November. Not wanting to deviated from tradition, some states refused to move the date of celebration. For two years, the nation and some states celebrated Thanksgiving on the second to last Thursday of November while other states continued to celebrate on the last Thursday of the month.

To unite the nation and end confusion, Congress decided to fix the date of the holiday. On October 6, 1941, the House passed a joint resolution declaring that the last Thursday in November was a legal holiday.

The Senate, however, amended the resolution establishing the holiday as the fourth Thursday, which would take into account those years when November has five Thursdays.

The House agreed to the amendment, and President Roosevelt signed the resolution on December 26, 1941, thus establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Thanksgiving Day holiday.

H.J. Res. 41, 10/6/1941, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives

Senate Amendments to H.J. Red. 41, 12/9/1941, Records of the U.S. Senate